1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus and the method for preparing biological tissue samples for ultrastructural analysis or other medical use, i.e. transplantation, by avoiding significant modification of the ultrastructure of tissue during preparation of the samples themselves. It is well known in the medical arts that to examine tissue samples, and determine the cellular structure and function thereof, the tissue must be "fixed" prior to the application of nearly all analytical methodologies.
Although the phrase "tissue samples" is used throughout this disclosure, the term should be understood to include small tissue samples appropriate for microscopic examination and larger tissue masses such as corneas which are appropriate for transplantation. The definition of tissue samples should be understood to include without limitation sperm, eggs, embryos and blood components. The contemplated utility of the apparatus of this invention is not limited to specific types or sizes of tissue, rather it should be understood to refer to any tissue made up from cells. The apparatus of this invention can be designed or adapted to any size, shape or type of cellular tissue. Therefore, the terms "tissue" and "tissue samples" are used interchangeably and are not limiting on the uses to which the method and apparatus of this invention can be placed.
Although the examination of tissue by use of various microscopes or related magnifying apparatus has been practiced for many years, there has been an inherent problem in preparing tissue for use with contemporary high resolution analytical microscopes, such as the STEM electron microscopes, which permit the examination of sample constituents via X-ray analysis at powers of from 500X to 500,000X with point to point resolution of 2 to 3 Angstrom units.
Specifically, it is difficult to interpret the results of tissue analysis while concomitantly assessing the extent of various artifacts produced during the tissue preparation processes. It is thus essential that artifacts be avoided wherever possible. The term "artifact" refers to a product of artificial character due to extraneous agency. Another problem results from physical shrinkage of the tissue sample itself when subjected to the extreme, but necessary for successful preparation, procedures extant in current dogma. In most currently used tissue preparation steps, tissue shrinkage is in the order of 40% to 50%. This shrinkage inevitably results in alteration of ultrastructure and massive rearrangement of infrastructural resolution. The net result of this is ultrastructural translation damage and inaccurate detail in descriptions via existing analytical procedures.
During the so-called "Golden Age of Morphology" the predominant underlying goal in qualitative and quantitative microscopy has been an aesthetically pleasing image. This goal is readily attainable with the fixation methods and apparatus which are currently available. However, it has become essential that the aesthetically pleasing image, which is produced by the preparation process, also yield a tissue sample which accurately reflects the true condition of tissue in the living organism, i.e., approaching the "living state." This is the problem which the apparatus of this invention addresses and solves. Magnification apparatus which are currently available for analytical use are technically more advanced than are current tissue preparation techniques which have been previously employed. The method of this invention results in the preparation of tissue samples which are readily usable on known magnification and analytical apparatus.
Although the primary thrust of this application is in the preparation of tissue samples for analysis by current magnification apparatus, the invention is not intended to be so limited. More specifically, the "preparation" of tissue should be understood to refer to preparation of tissue for analysis as well as the cryofixation of tissue in anticipation of transplantation, modification, in vitro or in vivo cellular growth, fertilization, animated suspension or the more typical resin impregnation, setting, infiltration and analysis. The apparatus of this invention can be used to prepare tissue for any medical or analytical procedure without the ultrastructural damage previously thought to be inevitable in cryopreparation.
The apparatus of this invention is to be distinguished from contemporary freeze-drying apparatus. Freeze-drying is a technique which is well known in the art together with the equipment necessary to implement such freeze drying. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,453. Although in certain freeze-drying techniques liquid nitrogen is used as a cooling medium, the tissue or sample itself does not attain such temperature. Freeze-drying normally contemplates sample temperatures of -50.degree. C. to -80.degree. C. In contrast, the cryopreparation of this invention contemplates sample temperatures of -120.degree. C. or below. Therefore, for purposes of this application the terms "cryopreparation" and "cryofixation" are used in distinction to conventional "freeze drying" technology (-50.degree. C. to -80.degree. C.).
The extreme low temperatures and vacuums used in the practice of the apparatus of this invention have generated unique problems not associated with freeze-drying apparatus. For example, sealing devices such as squeezable O-rings made from elastomeric material do not function effectively at these anticipated cryopreparation temperatures and vacuums. Therefore, it is necessary that cryopreparation apparatus be designed to seal various structures at the extremes of temperature and pressure encountered, i.e., the sample chamber to the rest of the apparatus, outside the liquid nitrogen environment. This is but one example of problems which have been encountered in the design of and which are unique to cryopreparation apparatus.
The vacuum levels disclosed and used in the apparatus of this invention cannot be achieved safely with prior art freeze drying equipment. Typical of previous methods for drawing vacuums in freeze drying methods and apparatus is the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,453 which discloses the use of molecular sieves in glass containers. Molecular sieves in easily compromised containers cannot be used safely to create and maintain the required vacuum levels to achieve the partial pressures required for sublimation of water at the anticipated temperatures (-120.degree. C. or below) created by the apparatus of the disclosed invention.
2. The Prior Art
The most common prior art method for preparation of tissue samples for analysis is by means of chemical fixation and organic solvent dehydration. Inherent in prior art processes is the concomitant artifact creation, sample shrinkage and resultant damage to and modification of tissue characteristics. These tissue characteristic modifications, whether in the form of artifacts or the like, require interpretation by the individual or apparatus analyzing or evaluating the sample. This introduces, in many instances, an unsatisfactory risk of error.
Chemical fixation is a well known technique and has served the analytical biologist well for many years and undoubtedly will continue to do so in certain limited applications. However, as the use of tissue sample analysis becomes more complex and the use of such analysis becomes more widespread, alternatives to chemical fixation are demanded. This is especially true as advances are being made in the magnification and analytical apparatus which are available. It is necessary that tissue preparation methods and the apparatus necessary to prepare tissue samples be equally advanced as the analytical tools, i.e., electron microscopes, which are being used to analyze the samples. Obviously, if the technology for tissue sample preparation is behind the technology of microscopy then the advanced microscopes cannot be used to full advantage by the morphologist or other tissue examiner.
Similarly, it is essential that cryopreparation methods and apparatus develop concurrently with other medical technology, i.e., surgical transplant techniques, bio-engineering and biogenetics. In short, cryopreparation is an essential intermediate step in evolving processes using or analyzing cells or tissue. If cryopreparation apparatus does not evolve then the thrust of medical technology into unexplained and unexplored medical arts will be blunted. The apparatus of this invention represents the cryopreparation breakthrough that will permit research into the use and preparation of biological tissue to keep pace with other advances in medical technology.
The most common alternative to chemical fixation and organic solvent dehydration is freeze drying cryofixed samples. Freeze-drying following cryofixation is a well documented and well known technique for tissue preservation It has several advantages. Freeze-drying results in a near-instantaneous arrest of cellular metabolism. There is also a stabilization and retention of soluble cell constituents through elimination of solvent contact with the sample. These are significant advantages to cryofixation freeze-drying that have resulted in a great deal of research in attempting to apply cryofixation and freeze-drying techniques to known tissue preparation processes.
Unfortunately, freeze-drying technology inherently possesses a number of disadvantages relevant to tissue preparation methodologies. The primary disadvantage in currently available freeze-drying techniques and apparatus is the inherent formation of ice crystals. As can be readily appreciated, the formation of ice crystals destroys the ultrastructural integrity of the tissue sample being reviewed. The image is distorted and the cytoplasm becomes reticulated. The formation of ice crystals in the sample can also result in a change in pH within microcompartments of the tissue (eutectic formation) which possibly can result in abnormal tertiary conformation of macromolecules. There is also the possibility that proteins will denature and precipitate. These are but a few of the disadvantages which are inherent in the freeze-drying process.
This general topic is discussed in some detail together with other prior art methods in an article entitled Freezing and Drying of Biological Tissues for Electron Microscopy, Louis Terracio and Karl G. Schwabe, published in The Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, Volume 29, No. 9 at pp. 1021-1028 (1981). Problems associated with artifact formation are described in Understanding the Artefact Problem in Freeze-Fracture Replication: A Review, The Royal Microscopial Society, (1982) at pp. 103-123.
A general principle found applicable to freezing techniques, which has demonstrated utility in the preparation of tissue samples, is that as the cooling rate increases, tissue fluids can be vitrified without the separation of water to extracellular spaces. It has been postulated that regardless of the rate of cooling, ice crystals may still be formed, but as the cooling rates increase the size of the intracellular ice crystals decreases. The small size or absence of ice crystals at high freeze rates is of course a substantial advantage in morphology retention as this results in minimal artifact creation and minimal ultrastructural damage during tissue dehydration. The apparatus of this invention requires the rapid supercooling of tissue samples to the vitreous phase in less than one second followed by dehydration of the tissue sample while in the state of reduced partial pressure of water vapor, all without substantial ultrastructural damage to the tissue cells.
Historically, the criteria by which the techniques for rapid supercooling have been judged was not the cooling rate of the system but simply the temperature of the environment in which the tissue was frozen. Thus, the term rapid supercooling has been applied to any system in which the supercooling agent has a temperature of -150.degree. C. or below. The effectiveness of a cooling system is dependent upon the rate at which heat is removed from the sample. Heat transfer is dependent not only on the temperature of the freezing system but also on its physical and thermal characteristics, as well as the size and thermal characteristics of the tissue.
The most commonly used technique for rapid supercooling is to immerse or "quench" the sample in a fluid cooling bath. The most commonly used fluids for quenching are liquid nitrogen, isopentane, propane and fluorocarbons such as Freon 12 and Freon 22. Although liquid nitrogen is generally regarded as an ideal quenching fluid due to its low temperature (-196.degree. C.), there are inherent disadvantages in the use of liquid nitrogen due to the occurrence of tissue surface film boiling caused at least in part by the low heat of vaporization of liquid nitrogen. Film boiling is a characteristic of liquid nitrogen that inhibits the heat transfer rates by actually insulating the sample.
An alternate prior method for rapid supercooling is freezing on the polished surface of a chilled metal block. This typically involves opposing the tissue sample to a polished flat metal surface by pressing it firmly against the surface of the metal. Silver and copper are typically used as the polished metal blocks. This method is designed to take advantage of the high thermal conductivities and heat capacities of these metals when cooled to liquid nitrogen or liquid helium temperatures. The critical step in chilling on the surface of a metal is making firm contact with the dry, chilled metal surface with no rotational, translational or rebounding motion. Certain commercially available apparatus having known utility in the medical arts address and provide "bounce-free" freezing. Credit for the development of this apparatus is generally accorded to Dr. Alan Boyne of the University of Marylan School of Medicine.
There has recently been verification that there is a direct correlation between cooling rate and ultrastructural preservation in quenching fluids. As the freezing rate increases over the range of 100.degree. C. to 4100.degree. C. per second (liquid nitrogen-propane), there is a corresponding decrease in the size of ice crystals formed and thus an improvement in morphological preservation. Use of such quenching fluids or other supercooling apparatus to vitrify a tissue sample in less than 1 second is preferred.
The critical steps in the subsequent tissue preparation process are invariably stimulated sublimation-dehydration of the supercooled tissue fluids, which have recently been described as a stimulated "molecular distillation" process. Once the appropriate supercooling method has been chosen and implemented, it is sometimes necessary to further process the tissue for microscopic evaluation, since electron microscopes or other magnification apparatus that allow the viewing of frozen hydrated specimens are not readily available. Thus, dehydration is an essential step in the preparation of biological tissue samples for storage and a step which oftentimes results in the destruction via reticulation of the infrastructure and ultrastructure of the tissue. Tissue cell destruction from dehydration not only impairs analysis by magnification apparatus but also adversely affects the functional characteristics and viability of tissue masses being used, i.e. transplanted.
In certain prior drying techniques, the tissue sample had not been entirely solidified due to eutectic formation as the cellular fluid solutes were concentrated in bound water compartments. This transfer of solute occurs while the materials are in the fluid state when slow cooling is employed. When rapid cooling techniques are used, unique procedures which are distinct from those characteristic of freeze-drying, must be employed in the dehydration step. Problems result from the fact that dehydration must take place (the water must be removed) in the solid rather than the liquid state, i.e., via sublimation. An alternate procedure which has been used successfully is stimulated molecular distillation. Stimulated molecular distillation refers to a process in which the amount of energy in the antibonding orbitals of surface molecules is elevated, enabling them to escape to the gas phase and not be recaptured by the solid phase.
In the prior art, the freeze substitution approach has involved the removal of tissue water by substituting a solvent or solvent-fixative mixture for the solid phase water at -50.degree. to -80.degree. C. This introduces less severe solvent phase separation and chemical alteration artifacts to a tissue sample than past routine chemical fixation methodologies. From a practical standpoint freeze-drying is complicated by the requirement that the tissue sample be warmed to increase the vapor pressure of the supercooled water and allow sublimation to proceed in a reasonable period of time. The increased temperature, in addition to increasing vapor pressure can produce a series of physical events leading to the expansion of ice crystals and concomitant damage to the ultrastructural morphology of the tissue sample. Many of the physical events which occur during the warming process have to do with transitions in the physical state of the water which is present. Changes which are typically encountered are glass transition, devitrification and recrystallization with an ensuing series of crystal lattice configuration transitions.
Thus it can be appreciated that freeze-drying technology and cryopreparation techniques present an exceptional opportunity for the preparation of tissue samples for morphological examination. However, inherent in the use of freeze-drying techniques are problems associated with dehydration and fixation of samples. These are the problems which are addressed by the process and apparatus of this invention.
The cryopreparation process of this invention has demonstrated an extraordinary application in the transplanting of corneal tissue. Prior to this invention attempts to transplant corneas which involved a necessary freezing or freeze-drying of the corneas after removal from the donor invariably resulted in a clouded cornea upon transplanting. This physical condition of the transplanted cornea was caused by crystal formation in the cornea itself and concomitant damage to the stroma. Use of the apparatus of this invention has enabled ophthalmologists to cryoprepare corneas and to then transplant those corneas to recipients with virtually negligible clouding or crystal formation. The ability to so transplant corneas represents an exceptional advantage to the process of this invention as well as a medical breakthrough in corneal transplant surgery.
One advantage of the apparatus of this invention is the ability to cryoprepare tissue without overt disruption or destruction of the morphological characteristics of the ultrastructure of tissue cells. The apparatus of this invention permits the cryopreparation of tissue by dehydrating tissue maintained in the solid, vitreous phase without creating unnecessary artifacts which restrict interpretation by conventional analytical apparatus.